Night shots

[Gabe C.]

Is it still possible to do night shots without flash? Beause i'm not allowed to shoot with flash in my photo class, but theres this one place with really nice lighting and I want to go shoot there.

[another view]

Sure it is, but it can be difficult. How you do it depends on what you want to shoot. I can give you some advice on what to try if you tell us a little more about what you want to shoot.

[Gabe C.]

Sure it is, but it can be difficult. How you do it depends on what you want to shoot. I can give you some advice on what to try if you tell us a little more about what you want to shoot.

Well i'm trying to shoot a pathway where theres a little bit of purple lights along the pathway. and since i'm not alowed to use flash i was just curious how i could shoot there. what if theres not enough light to set an aperature?

[another view]

You'll need a tripod and a long shutter speed. I'm assuming you're not trying to shoot anything moving that will be in the frame, but people would very likely blur in this case (which might be cool anyway).

ISO speed, lens aperture and shutter speed are basically an equation. If the light level is really low, then you might wind up with one second at f8 with ISO100 film. This is just an example - you would need to meter the scene to get the correct exposure. You could use a faster lens aperture but it still would be a shutter speed long enough that you won't be able to hand-hold the camera.

[another view]

Here's an example which may be somewhat close to what you're talking about. This is 5.7 seconds at f11 at ISO100 (digital cameras record all that stuff). If I would have shot it at f2.8, I would have been at around 1/8 second or so, which isn't going to result in a sharp hand-held photograph. If I had bumped the ISO to 800 and shot at f2.8, my shutter speed would be around 1/60 which I could use handheld (since the lens was 35mm) but I'd have a somewhat grainy image without a lot of depth of field. I'd also have a harder time keeping the camera perfectly vertical (which I check with a bubble level in the hot shoe). Since I didn't want any of those issues and all it took to solve those problems was a tripod, that's what I did.

I took this before the sky was totally dark so there would be some color in it, and that might be good for your shot as well, but try it at dusk and after dark. Just be prepared for a much longer exposure...

Hand-held low-light shots can be great, but that's a whole different style. I've done it with really fast b&w film (like T-Max 3200) and a fast lens like a 50mm f1.4. That wide-open aperture should get you pretty close to hand-holdable shutter speeds when rating the film at ISO1600, but you'll still have relatively soft images a lot of the time. Again, this isn't necessarily bad; just a different style. Kinda lends itself to people/street shooting.

[Gabe C.]

Here's an example which may be somewhat close to what you're talking about. This is 5.7 seconds at f11 at ISO100 (digital cameras record all that stuff). If I would have shot it at f2.8, I would have been at around 1/8 second or so, which isn't going to result in a sharp hand-held photograph. If I had bumped the ISO to 800 and shot at f2.8, my shutter speed would be around 1/60 which I could use handheld (since the lens was 35mm) but I'd have a somewhat grainy image without a lot of depth of field. I'd also have a harder time keeping the camera perfectly vertical (which I check with a bubble level in the hot shoe). Since I didn't want any of those issues and all it took to solve those problems was a tripod, that's what I did.

I took this before the sky was totally dark so there would be some color in it, and that might be good for your shot as well, but try it at dusk and after dark. Just be prepared for a much longer exposure...

Hand-held low-light shots can be great, but that's a whole different style. I've done it with really fast b&w film (like T-Max 3200) and a fast lens like a 50mm f1.4. That wide-open aperture should get you pretty close to hand-holdable shutter speeds when rating the film at ISO1600, but you'll still have relatively soft images a lot of the time. Again, this isn't necessarily bad; just a different style. Kinda lends itself to people/street shooting.

Thanks for all that. I'll definately look into all of it. And i'm goin to San Francisco this weekend, so there will be many photo opps no flash was used on that picture right?